Griquas ready to face Sharks

Griquas boss Hawies Fourie has rewarded his Currie Cup qualification squad by retaining most of them for their clash with the Sharks.

Griquas coach Hawies Fourie has rewarded the squad that earned Currie Cup qualification by retaining much of the team for their Sharks clash on Saturday.

The Kimberley based side regained their status after ending the qualifying round undefeated.

"Now that we are once again part of the Currie Cup, we don't just want to be a number," said Fourie.

"We want to be a real contender the competition and we hope to use the momentum that we got form the qualifiers to achieve just that."

The former Free State Cheetahs assistant coach said the team had set themselves high targets for the upcoming campaign.

"We have our sights set on the semi-finals, but we at least want to end the series in sixth position to ensure that we don't need to play in the qualifiers next year," added Fourie.

Griquas have lost key players to other unions since last year's Currie Cup, with stalwarts like Springbok full-back Willie le Roux and Bok prop Lourens Adriaanse moving to the Cheetahs and Sharks respectively.

Recently, lock Ligtoring Landman moved to Welsh outfit the Dragons and Howard Mnisi to the Golden Lions.

But they have also made some good acquisitions in captain Wayne Stevens, Hugo Kloppers, Doppies la Grange and Ruan Lerm who came in from the Lions, while Jonathan Francke and Boela Serfontein joined from Boland and the Pumas respectively.

"We have the momentum thanks to winning the Vodacom Cup and the qualifiers," said Fourie.

"We are still a unit where other teams have to make due without many Springboks who will play in the Rugby Championship. We are in a good place."